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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24673987">Addressed to a Princess</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/enbytes/pseuds/enbytes'>enbytes</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>RWBY</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Whiterose week 2020</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 06:14:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,906</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24673987</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/enbytes/pseuds/enbytes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Whiterose Week Prompt 2: Letters</p><p>Weiss always sends Ruby letters when she's away in Atlas, and Ruby is afraid that they'll soon be all she has left.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>68</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Addressed to a Princess</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Heyo, I don't normally write stuff for things like this (being theme weeks and all) but I had an idea for this prompt, so I wrote it! I probably won't do any of the other prompts, but hey, who knows!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ruby felt like she was drowning. Or at least, she felt like what she imagined drowning would be like. She’d never really drowned before. She wasn’t much for swimming. Regardless, the near breathless feeling that had taken hold of her was definitely how she imagined the experience going. Only, more wet.</p><p>What had her breathless was the letter clutched tightly in her fingers. The page was wrinkled from where her hands clenched it. A few select wet splotches dotted the paper and blurred the delicate, loopy handwriting that filled the entire page. That didn’t really matter, though. Ruby had already read through the whole letter countless times and knew it by heart.</p><p>
  <em>Dearest Ruby,</em>
</p><p>Ruby wanted to laugh at the way the letter began. Weiss insisted on such formal language in her writing. She would have found it funny if she weren’t fighting back tears.</p><p>
  <em>Dearest Ruby,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I hope you’re well. I’m having a miserable time here in Atlas. It’s dreadfully cold and the company is horrendous. Nothing but stuck up, snobby Atlas elites. Someone even had the audacity to ask me on a date after a dinner party! I turned them down, of course. Maybe we should go for dinner when I return. We haven’t done anything special in a while. We could go to that Italian place you’re so fond of. I’ll be back sometime next week, although I’m not sure of exactly when.</em>
</p><p>The rest of the letter was more of the same – Weiss complaining about her stay in Atlas. She really hadn’t wanted to go. There were descriptions of dinner parties and meetings with CEOs, all delivered alongside scathing remarks that Weiss would have never gotten away with speaking aloud in her father’s home. That was why they’d started with the letters in the first place. Ruby had jokingly suggested snail mail in response to Weiss’s forced secrecy around her father, and Weiss had ended up sending her a letter from Atlas the next time she was forced to go by her father. With the rather unfortunate frequency that her father demanded her presence, Weiss had ended up making a habit of sending Ruby letters detailing her routine torture sessions in the world of Atlesian business.</p><p>Ruby looked away from the letter, her gaze falling on the sterile white sheets of the hospital bed next to her. Familiar, silver-white hair was splayed out across the thin pillow, framing Weiss’s face. Her eyes were closed, and if Ruby didn’t know better, she’d assume Weiss was merely asleep. She looked at peace. Unfortunately, Ruby did know better. Weiss had been “asleep” for nearly four days at this point.</p><p>Ruby had arrived the day after Weiss had been rushed to the emergency room, and hadn’t left the hospital in the three days since. Following the breaking news of a White Fang attack on an expensive, gourmet restaurant that used Faunus labor, Ruby had been concerned, but wasn’t overly worried. That had lasted for all of two minutes, and her concern had quickly turned to fear when a list of injured in the attack was headed by the name “Weiss Schnee”.</p><p>Ruby had panicked, and immediately gotten ahold of Winter. Upon hearing of Weiss’s comatose state, she’d booked a ticket to Atlas almost immediately. Ruby had met up with Winter to grab a few of her belongings from Schnee manor before heading to the hospital, which was when she’d found the letter she’d been reading over and over for the past few days. Weiss had obviously been about to send it. Ruby looked at the letter again, her eyes drifting to the very last paragraph.</p><p>
  <em>I suppose this would be better to tell you in person, but I was thinking we should perhaps move in together after I’m back in Vale. You basically live in my apartment as is, and I’ve been looking for an excuse to move away from my abysmal neighbors. I like your building, so maybe we could look for an apartment there. I could always just move into your apartment as well, but it would be a bit cramped with two of us living there full time, I think.</em>
</p><p>Ruby had read that sole paragraph over and over. Those words, that Weiss had written so nonchalantly, were just about all she could ever dream of. When Ruby herself had proffered the idea a year earlier, Weiss had shot her down on account of her father’s bigotry. Captain Homophobe, as Ruby often affectionately referred to the man as, was still unaware of Weiss and Ruby’s relationship being of a romantic nature. Ruby considered herself lucky that Winter was the only relative of Weiss’s that had stopped by the hospital, as, despite Ruby and Weiss going on nearly three years of dating, Weiss’s sister was the only member of the Schnee family privy to the details of their relationship.</p><p>Ruby looked back at Weiss and almost immediately wished she hadn’t. It was far too easy to find herself entertaining fantasies of Weiss never waking up, or of Weiss losing her memories of Ruby, or of any sort of complication at all, really. Ruby reached for the bag sitting at the base of her chair and withdrew a thick binder. Within, contained in protective plastic sleeves, were all the letters Weiss had sent her over the two years since they’d started the little tradition. Rereading some of her favorites had been one of her only comforts during her stay in Weiss’s hospital room. She flipped through a few pages until she found the letter she was looking for: A rather short note, from the tradition’s early days.</p><p>
  <em>Dearest Ruby,</em>
</p><p>All the letters began that way, just like the latest had. Ruby found it endearing.</p><p>
  <em>Dearest Ruby,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I still feel a little weird, writing out an actual letter. Really, I could just sneak off and call you from some café, but you say these are cute and I can’t really manage to resist you on things like these. I don’t even think you’ll get this before I’m back, as I’m only here for three more days.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Other than that, I think Winter is aware of our relationship. She mentioned something about finding some unusual undergarments in my laundry the last time she visited, and I’m afraid I got quite flustered. I trust her though, so I don’t think it will be too much of a problem. I doubt she’ll tell father, if she were to tell mother I doubt she’d be sober enough to care, and I can’t remember the last time she said a word to Whitley. I’ll see you soon.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Yours,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Weiss</em>
</p><p>Ruby read the letter twice before moving on. Winter had definitely known about her and Weiss, as she’d shown up at Ruby’s apartment rather unexpectedly a short time later. That particular conversation had been incredibly stressful at the time, but the three of them looked back on it with laughter.</p><p>“Reading through her letters?”</p><p>The sudden presence of Winter’s voice cut through the silence, startling Ruby. She looked up at Weiss’s elder sister and nodded.</p><p>“Didn’t know you knew about these,” Ruby admitted.</p><p>Winter let out a short, barking laugh. “Knew about them? She had me proofread several.”</p><p>Ruby blushed. Some of Weiss’s letters had been considerably… private. She presumed Weiss had enough tact to keep those to herself, hopefully.</p><p>Winter leaned over and thumbed through the pages of Ruby’s binder herself, settling on a specific date. “This was my favorite out of the few I’ve actually seen. I’ve always wanted the chance to reread it,” Winter explained.</p><p>
  <em>Dearest Ruby,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I let it slip that you were staying over at my apartment today. I was mortified, as was Winter, but luckily my father is much too dated to seemingly even consider that his daughter is gay. I managed to cover and made up a story about your apartment building being renovated, and he seemed to buy it. Tonight took years off of my life, so you’ll have to forgive me if you outlive me by a few. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Winter and I had a good laugh about it afterwards, though. We went to a small diner and had a nice meal. I made her promise to accompany me again at least once more before I leave. It’s the only way I’ll get through another week and a half of listening to my father spout bigoted nonsense while unknowingly standing next to his lesbian daughter. I’ve come very close to telling him that he can go do some very obscene things to himself. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>I’ll have to take you to the diner Winter took me to when you’re next in Atlas with me. They have the best desserts that I just know you’ll adore.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Yours,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Weiss</em>
</p><p>Ruby giggled as she reread the letter. She’d never gotten the chance to go to that diner, actually. She wasn’t in Atlas much. Ruby made eye contact with Winter. “You just like this one because Weiss wanted to tell your dad to pound sand.”</p><p>Weiss faked a scandalized expression. “Why, Miss Rose, how dare you insinuate that I want to tell my father to go fuck himself. I would never, I’m a proper Atlesian lady!”</p><p>The two of them laughed at the thought of Winter being anything close to an “Atlesian Lady”, or even anything at all other than a military specialist with a mischievous streak. Ruby was acutely aware that she’d finally stopped crying, and that it was the first time she’d laughed since learning of Weiss’s condition.</p><p>“Oh man, I’d love to see either of you tell your dad off! And then I could totally kiss Weiss like, right in front of him!”</p><p>Winter laughed even harder. “Well, wouldn’t that be a show!”</p><p>The two broke down as their shared fit of laughter grew stronger, until a weak voice interrupted them.</p><p>“You will do nothing of the sort, Ruby Rose. My father may be an ass, but I’ve no desire to give him a heart attack.”</p><p>Ruby immediately stopped laughing and whirled around, tears welling up in her eyes almost instantly. “Weiss!”</p><p>Weiss was propped on her elbow, barely leaning up as she struggled to rise. Ruby quickly went to support the bedridden girl as she rose, helping her sit up and then immediately embracing her in a rib crushing hug. “I was so scared!” Ruby admitted.</p><p>Weiss scoffed, her voice still quiet and weak. “It certainly didn’t sound like it. You and Winter seemed to be having the time of your lives.”</p><p>Ruby didn’t respond for a moment, only hugging Weiss tighter in response. “Did you really mean it?”</p><p>“Mean what?”</p><p>“That you want to move in with me,” Ruby elaborated.</p><p>Weiss blushed and quickly untangled herself from Ruby’s death grip of a hug. “Ah, you read that. I wasn’t actually intending on sending that. I was going to tell you in person.” Weiss quickly slumped back down onto the bed.</p><p>“So is that a yes?” Ruby pressed.</p><p>Weiss blushed harder and turned away from Ruby, facing the wall of the hospital room. “I’m still groggy. We’ll talk about it later.”</p><p>Ruby decided to drop the subject in favor of pursuing it another time, instead electing to slip her hand into Weiss’s and enjoy the silence. She sat there for a moment, enjoying the relief of Weiss being fine, until Winter once again broke the silence.</p><p>“She’s been thinking about it for months, by the way.”</p><p>“Winter!”</p>
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